{"id":2818,"date":"2022-02-04T01:03:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T01:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/10-properties-in-8-months-by-saying-no-more-than-yes\/"},"modified":"2022-02-04T01:03:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T01:03:07","slug":"10-properties-in-8-months-by-saying-no-more-than-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/10-properties-in-8-months-by-saying-no-more-than-yes\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Properties in 8 Months by Saying \u201cNo\u201d More Than \u201cYes\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

How many rental properties do you own? It could be one or one hundred rentals. But, whether you\u2019re a rookie or veteran real estate investor, it\u2019s hard to not be impressed by Jason Rash<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s story. Jason has put off investing in real estate<\/strong> for most of his working life, focusing more on passive income streams like investing in stocks<\/strong><\/a>. This all changed when Jason saw tens of thousands in stock value disappear<\/strong> from his accounts.<\/p>\n

He wanted something more reliable, stable, and calculated that he could control. Of course, real estate investing<\/strong><\/a> fits that criteria exactly. So what did Jason do? Did he go and buy one rental, wait a few years, and then try to buy another? Nope. Jason went and bought ten properties over the span of eight months<\/strong>. That more than one property a month within his first year of investing!<\/p>\n

Be warned, there is a method to this madness. Jason has a tight control on his <\/strong>long-distance investing<\/strong><\/a>, having only the best agents, property managers, plumbers, electricians, and contractors on speed dial. This wasn\u2019t a system he fell into, this was a system he intentionally built<\/strong>. Jason shares his six-part criteria <\/strong>that any new investor can use, especially when trying to minimize headaches and <\/strong>maximize cash flow<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

David Greene:
This is the BiggerPockets Podcast, Show 566<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
When you\u2019re investing in real estate, it should be the complete, exact opposite experience of you buying your personal home. Your personal home is your personal home like, oh my God, I want to live here. I want to know these neighbors. Oh my God, I love this countertop, I love these colors. Oh my God, the view\u2019s amazing\u2026 When it becomes a rental, none of that matters. None of it matters, the only thing that matters is the numbers.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
What\u2019s going on, everyone? This is David Greene, your host of the BiggerPockets Podcast, where it is our job to teach you how to become financially free through real estate.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
We believe real estate investing is the best way for ordinary people, just like you and me, to build wealth. And we prove it by bringing you stories of people who started out right where a lot of you are today. They\u2019ve taken these concepts and applied them in a simple, but not easy way to find financial freedom for themselves. And I want the same thing for you and so does everyone at BiggerPockets.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Today, we have a fantastic show with Jason Rash. Now Jason ran into one of our producers, Eric, at BPCON21 and Eric was so impressed with Jason\u2019s story that he invited him to come on the show.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Now Jason has been able to get 10, not doors, but properties over only eight short months, all in Alabama. He goes over his strategy, what he looks for in deals, some of the hurdles that he encountered doing this and how he was actually able to scale his portfolio safely and quickly. I think that that\u2019s very important.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
You\u2019re not going to miss Jason\u2019s strategies of what he looks for in a property specifically what he looks to say no to. So Jason talks about, he only wants to buy brick houses. He says no to homes with pools and a list of other things that he says, \u201cNope, that\u2019s not going to work for me,\u201d in order to make the yeses more clear.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
You\u2019re also going to see what he looks for in a deal to know that it\u2019s going to work for him and how he negotiates hard, even in a hot market. He gives some very good practical strategies that anybody can use in most markets across the country today.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Finally, Jason\u2019s going to share some of the detail that he looks for when finding property and managing property to make sure that he doesn\u2019t have surprises like air conditioners, roofs, and furnaces that go out that he wasn\u2019t prepared for. So Jason\u2019s got some pretty good examples of the types of property he wants to find that\u2019s going to keep maintenance and capital expenditures low so that his cash flow can stay strong for a good period of time. Without further ado, let\u2019s get into our interview with Jason Rash.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Jason Rash, welcome to the BiggerPockets Podcast, my friend.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Thank you so much for having me, David.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
All right. So why don\u2019t you give us a brief overview of what your real estate portfolio looks like and sort of the business environment that you operate in, and then we\u2019ll dig in from there.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Sure. So first of all, I want to say, thank you so much for having me on the show, David. I\u2019m a big fan of the BiggerPockets and I\u2019ve gone to the events, I\u2019ve read your books. I\u2019ve read a lot of the other books, just Rental Property Investing, How to Invest in Real Estate, things like that.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And so my portfolio honestly consists of single-family homes. It\u2019s very simple, I\u2019m not the smartest guy in the room, but I figured out, I hacked it pretty much said, okay, I can do single-family homes. It\u2019s not that hard for me to understand it.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And so for me, the easy thing about building a business is having a simple formula, and single-family homes are what I feel comfortable with. And once you get one and you hit one, you do your first one, do your second one and then you can start doing it over and over. It\u2019s the same exact thing over and over.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I\u2019ve been in real estate for about, I\u2019d say less than a year. I did my first deal on February 5th, bought 10 homes in the first eight months of 2021. It was a hell of a ride. And here I am, man. I went to the BiggerPockets Podcast and bumped into Eric and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So where did you buy these eight homes in?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah, so I bought the 10 homes in Montgomery, Alabama. I\u2019m actually originally born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama and oddly enough, I surveyed land there. So I happened to pick up things about flood zones there, building types, socioeconomics, demographics, the way things are moving through the city. And I was like, man, I really don\u2019t like living here. So I moved away but then I was like, I needed somewhere to invest. And I\u2019ll talk about at that in a second how I got into this, but I was like, first spot Montgomery, Alabama. I was like, man, I know the area, I know everything about it and it felt very comfortable to me.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That\u2019s right, you said 10 homes in eight months. Now in the book, Long-Distance Real Estate Investing, I actually talk about looking for a competitive advantage when picking your market. My perspective is too many people say, what is the next hot market? And they try to outsmart how the market works. And I say, no, just find a way where you have an advantage and you can pick a momentum. So if you live somewhere and you know the people that are there, you\u2019re familiar with the market, there\u2019s a comfort level. That\u2019s where you start.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Would you mind sharing if that was like the similar mindset you were in and maybe what were some of the competitive advantages that you utilized to get such a nice portfolio so quickly?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah. So first things first, you\u2019re right on point, actually that is my next book to read is, Long-Distance Investing, oddly enough, I haven\u2019t done it. I live in Colorado, I need to get around to reading now, that\u2019s the next one on the list.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So number one, local knowledge is everything, like local knowledge from a realtor, local knowledge from friends, local knowledge from family or your own personal local knowledge of the area is gold. You can\u2019t get a lot of the stuff that you can find on the internet, you can\u2019t get hard data from like, hey, listen, these homes down the street that are not on the internet, that\u2019s a crack house over there and four blocks over, you got some sketchy areas over there. You\u2019re not going to see that on the internet, nobody\u2019s going to put that out there.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So number one, I went to a real estate agent that I knew and trusted. She had actually sold my house when we moved out of Montgomery 11 years ago. I just connected with her, I said, \u201cHey, I wanted to check back in, see if you\u2019re in real estate.\u201d \u201cOh yeah. Oh my God. I\u2019ve been in real estate, I\u2019ve sold like a couple hundred homes, 500 homes, 600 homes since you moved away 10 years ago,\u201d I was like, \u201cOh my God, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So, number one, I went with her. And then I explained to her, I said, \u201cListen, this is what I\u2019m wanting to do with real estate. I want to come into the market, I want to buy these properties in these parameters, and this is what I\u2019m looking for. Can you help me?\u201d \u201cYes, absolutely. I can help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I went in, I leveraged that and then all of a sudden I found myself when I got knee-deep into the homes, \u201cHey, I need a painter.\u201d \u201cHey, I need this.\u201d \u201cHey, I need that.\u201d My real estate agent helped me out with that. I had been living in the city for 31 years, I was also able to lean on some of those contacts, like yard guys, electricians, things like that and that\u2019s all valuable.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
That\u2019s all valuable, when you\u2019re looking to build a portfolio, like having trust in the people that are helping you repair or build or whatever it is you need to do to make ready, having that it\u2019s gold. It\u2019s worth its weight in gold.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That\u2019s really good. So did you go in there knowing these are the pieces that I need to find to make this work, or did you just go buy a property and then figure it out from there?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So number one, I think if you\u2019re going to go into real estate, you need to know what the backend looks like. So for me, I want to be hiking through the jungles of Tibet and I want to get a rental check, that\u2019s me. For other people, they want to be more hands on, they want to do flips and things like that, right now in my career that\u2019s not me.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So what I did was, I want to buy homes, I\u2019m 1,500 miles away, I need a property management company, number one. So I found a property management company at the recommendation of my realtor. I have a long list of questions. I vetted her out, and I actually vetted two or three more. I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s word is like gospel. So I had vetted her out, vetted out others, but I did wind up going with the one that she recommended.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Now, I knew that I needed a team. So I talked to my property manager, hired her, got a real estate agent, I got contractors, I have everybody in place. So I think that if you\u2019re going to do something like this, that I\u2019m attempting to do, you need people and you need people that you can trust.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That\u2019s so funny. So it doesn\u2019t offend me that you haven\u2019t read Long-Distance Real Estate Investing, in case you\u2019re worried. I\u2019m actually fascinated when other people do the same thing I did, they invest out of state or in a different area and then they just naturally did the stuff that I put in the book. It\u2019s almost a validation that I got it right when the people who did this well are doing the same thing.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So in the book I talk about the core four and it\u2019s your property manager, your deal finder, usually your realtor, your lender and your contractor. And if you have those four pieces, you can put the whole thing together anyway. And what you mentioned is a big piece of how to do this right, is you don\u2019t have to go find four of them.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
You start with the realtor and they usually have a recommendation for a lender and a property manager. Property manager probably knows a contractor and you end up sort of vetting different people through the ones that you do like.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Can you just explain a little bit about the specifics of how that conversation went, like what did you say to your realtor to get the recommendation? And when you found your property manager, how did you explain to them what you were going to need to make this work as you were hiking through the jungle?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Sure. So when I talked to my realtor, I said, \u201cListen, here\u2019s what I want to do\u2026\u201d I told her the plan, said, \u201cI need a property manager.\u201d So when I met the property manager I said, \u201cListen, here\u2019s the deal. Number one, you know my realtor but I need to ask you these questions.\u201d So she went through all the questions and I said, \u201cNumber two, I will be your best customer, guarantee you for a fact but the first thing I need to know is what is your biggest client and who is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
She\u2019s like, \u201cI\u2019m not going to tell you who it is, but they have 30 homes. We have two clients here that have 30 homes with us.\u201d I was like, \u201cCool. I will be your best client, guarantee you for a fact.\u201d And I said, \u201cHopefully my actions will show you how serious I am,\u201d number one.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Number two, since a couple of things started to break along the way I got them fixed immediately, and I think property managers really can stand behind you more and recommend your homes in front of other people if you\u2019re willing to fix repairs that come up immediately, and you\u2019re willing to be proactive. There\u2019s a lot of people she explained to me that said, \u201cHey listen, they got molds in their house\u2026\u201d to let them live with, it\u2019s not a big deal. \u201cHey, listen, we got a little water leak in there.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ll get around to it.\u201d A lot of people, they\u2019re very nonchalant and that\u2019s not me, I\u2019m a very hands-on guy.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I made a deal with my property manager. I said, \u201cHow much you charge?\u201d She said, \u201c10%,\u201d \u201cOkay, fantastic. When I get to a certain X-number of homes, because I will get to these homes with you. I want to drop it down to 8%.\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cDone, not a problem. You\u2019re the only one I\u2019m going to cut this deal for, but not a problem.\u201d And so me and her have a great working relationship.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That\u2019s exactly how I did it too. That\u2019s so funny is, I didn\u2019t just go in there and beat them up and say, \u201cDrop your price.\u201d I said, \u201cLook, when I get to X-amount of homes, I\u2019m going to expect you to do this.\u201d And they said, \u201cHey, that\u2019s fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And that\u2019s all it took was just setting that expectation in the beginning rather than waiting and then going to them with a sense of entitlement that usually just causes conflict.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Absolutely.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So tell me about this first house that you got, what are the details of it and what made you pick it out?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Sure. Give me one second, let me pull this up right here. So the first house\u2026 Now I want to backtrack this. Okay. So number one, I like to set goals and I set goals with a timeline.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I got into real estate\u2026 I think this David, I think we need to back up to how I got into this. So my father passed away in June of 2020, and he had been telling me for a few years before, \u201cHey, you need to get into real estate. You need to get into real estate.\u201d And so I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay, whatever dad, I don\u2019t understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I made up all these excuses in my mind that I apparently didn\u2019t have that investor gene, so to speak, or the math was too complex or whatever it may be. So I was like, okay, I\u2019m just going to invest in the stock market.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Well, I got like three or $400,000 launched into the stock market. I lost 26 grand in eight minutes, poof, just like that it evaporated. And I think it was October 18th of 2020. And I was like, you know what? I feel like God\u2019s trying to tell me something and I\u2019ll be honest with you guys, I don\u2019t know what you believe in, but I always feel like God, the universe, whoever you believe in is trying to talk to you.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I thought about it, $26,000 out of 400, $350,000 is not that big of a deal but what if it was like $260,000 or $2.6 million in eight minutes, a lifetime of savings. And I was like, oh my God, I can\u2019t control this. However good I think I am in picking stocks, I can\u2019t control it. So immediately I started looking into real estate.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I hooked up with some friends and some other mentors outside of the BiggerPockets community. And they were like, man, this is a great idea for you to go into real estate and they kind of gave me some nudges as well in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So in October actually I bought these books. I bought How to Invest in Real Estate and The Rental Property Investing book. I bought these books right here and I also bought Managing Rental Properties as well. And I gave myself a goal. I said, okay, here\u2019s the deal\u2026 I\u2019m an action-taker and if you\u2019re out there doing real estate, you got to be an action-taker.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Number one, you have to overcome doubt and fear but number two, you got to overcome markets and changing market conditions as well. So what I did was I said, okay, I\u2019m going to buy these books. I ordered them from Amazon, I think it was October 26th, 27th, is how fast I moved. And then I said, okay, I\u2019m going to give myself 90 days. I\u2019m going to close on the very first deal in 90 days. Okay, that\u2019s how fast I was going to do it.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Keep in mind guys, I\u2019ve never done real estate. I don\u2019t have any idea how this thing works. So I\u2019m like, okay, I\u2019m going to absorb it. I\u2019m going to invest my time and money. Okay, boom. I\u2019m in the market by December 20, I\u2019d say probably December 21st of last year, I started putting it out there on Facebook, \u201cHey, I\u2019m going to be a real estate investor. I\u2019m looking to buy homes. I\u2019m looking to buy homes in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I just threw it out there in my hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, and this guy from school who I haven\u2019t talked to in 20 years, reaches out to me and said, \u201cHey man, I might have a deal for you.\u201d And I was like, \u201cReally? Send me some details.\u201d So he sent like an old Zillow listing of this house, I\u2019m about to share with you. And he was like, \u201cListen man, this house, nobody lives in it. It\u2019s got new appliances. It\u2019s got a new roof. It\u2019s got new flooring and a new HVAC. It\u2019s three bedroom, two bath, 1,900 square feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay,\u201d So I start running numbers on spreadsheets\u2026 We\u2019re going to get to spreadsheets in a minute. But guys, I want you to understand something, if you\u2019re out there trying to do your first deal, whenever you put it out there in the universe, you have no idea where people are at in their lives. You have no idea how much pain they have. They may just have this property they\u2019re sitting on, it\u2019s perfect for you, that they just want to dump.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I ain\u2019t talked to this guy in 20 years, he just followed me on Facebook. He sends me the thing, he says, \u201cListen, I\u2019ll sell you this house, because if you don\u2019t want to buy it, I\u2019m going to give it away to charity and turn it into a home or somebody\u2019s going to turn it into a home.\u201d He sent it to me, $63,750 for the whole entire thing, out the door.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And I was like, \u201cWhat? You got to be kidding me,\u201d I started running numbers. So I\u2019m sitting here doing my numbers, right? If it\u2019s $63,000 that\u2019s going to give me about a 25.4% cash on cash return on investment. That\u2019s long-term maintenance and everything\u2019s factored in, and 10% vacancy.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And I\u2019m looking at it and this is with $950 a month coming in. Okay, I can raise the rent to $1,000, maybe $1,100 a month. So I want you guys to understand something, the best deal might be right out there, off market, right underneath your nose that somebody\u2019s just sitting on.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
David, this is how fast it moved for me and I don\u2019t know how it was for you when you went into new markets, but this is how it was for me.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
All right, so when you saw that deal, what caught your eye about her? What made you think that\u2019s a house that stands out amongst others?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Well, number one, it was like 63,750 bucks, I was like, well dude, if I screw it up, man, I only got $13,000 into it. I mean, I think the down payment was like $13,900 with closing costs and everything. And I\u2019m like, I can\u2019t mess it up too bad. And I\u2019m looking at the mortgage payment, the mortgage payments going to be like $360, $370, something like that, with tax, title, insurance, mortgage payment, everything.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And I\u2019m like, I can\u2019t mess this up, there\u2019s no way. I mean, my car payment\u2019s more than this. If everything goes south, I\u2019ll just pay the thing and just sell it. Right, I\u2019ll pay the mortgage payment for a few months and sell it. That\u2019s literally what went through my mind, I\u2019m like, new roof, new appliances, new flooring, new HVAC, three bedroom, two bath, all brick in a great area. I\u2019m like, this just seemed like a home run to me.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Okay, and then how did you research what the income was going to be, what you thought you could rent it out for and what your ROI would be?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Fantastic question. So I started going on Zillow and I just started looking around in the areas for rent. Then I just started doing some past stuff and Zillow actually had it all completely wrong, they were off by like a couple hundred bucks, but in the wrong direction. So they were saying you could get like $750 for this house, $850, stuff like that, was another company that I looked at, but I was like, if it goes for like 750, 800 bucks. So I just did the average, I\u2019m like, I could still make this work. I mean, it just seemed like a no-brainer to me.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Did you take those numbers to your property manager and ask him to verify it?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I didn\u2019t have the property manager at the time, that\u2019s how fast I was rolling. I was like, well, it looks good on the spreadsheet\u2026 By the way, let me be very clear, I did this first deal without a realtor. I did the whole entire thing myself.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And so what happened was I did all the documents myself. And by the way, I don\u2019t recommend you doing your first deal by yourself with no real estate agent. I did the whole entire thing all by myself.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Okay. So on this deal, how has it worked out? Have you been happy with how it performed, have there been any hidden surprises that popped up that you didn\u2019t expect?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I flew in to do my first deal. Okay, I flew in and I actually made an offer on the second deal before I closed on the first deal. And I\u2019ll talk about that in a minute, but real quick, I did hit the 90-day mark. Actually I missed it by one week only because of my lender. I was supposed to close January 26th and I missed it by one week only because my lender dropped the ball. I fired the lender, by the way, I was like, \u201cListen, this is unacceptable,\u201d I went to a better lender, she\u2019s way better anyway, she crushes it.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So the deal\u2019s been fantastic. I\u2019ve had a couple issues, we\u2019ll say like maybe like a toilet leaking underneath and a flapper. They had to come in and put some drapes and stuff up, nothing major, nothing major at all. Fantastic, it\u2019s cash flowed wonderfully for me and I can\u2019t complain, it\u2019s been absolutely magical. It\u2019s been great.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Awesome. So is there anything that you would change with what you know now, if you went back, when you bought that first deal?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Probably would\u2019ve negotiated it a little bit lower. I probably would\u2019ve done five or $10,000 lower because I didn\u2019t pick up on how much pain this guy was in, I think I wanted the deal more than he wanted to get rid of it.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Okay. So tell me how you would\u2019ve gone about, or at least the attempts that you would have made to try to get that thing lower. And then also if you don\u2019t mind, what did you see in that seller that made you think, \u201cOoh, there\u2019s a little bit of blood in the water and I could have been more aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So he had mentioned to me whenever he first sent me the deal, he\u2019s like, \u201cHey, listen, man, if you don\u2019t want to buy it, I\u2019m just going to give it to a home.\u201d Now keep in mind guys, this is February or whenever he offered it to me, December 21st 2020, we were in a very different market than we were just last year. Just six, seven, eight months ago, we were in a completely different market, in a lot of markets, for people that are listening to this.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So first things first, I would\u2019ve negotiated with him. He would\u2019ve thrown out $63,000, I would\u2019ve said, \u201cListen, I\u2019ll pay you $59,000 for it or $58,000 for it based on X, Y, Z.\u201d All the home in the area we\u2019re going for like $69,000, $70,000, $71,000, so it was still under market.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I mean, I felt like I still got a great deal, but I would\u2019ve just asked, just throw it out there, \u201cHey man, I\u2019ll do the deal for $59,000, $58,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Yeah, sometimes you\u2019ll still do the deal at the price that they want, but there\u2019s almost like, the couple thousand dollars isn\u2019t going to make a difference especially if you\u2019re financing it at this rate. I mean, we\u2019re talking about like 10 bucks a month or something, maybe [crosstalk 00:17:37].<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
It\u2019s close, it\u2019s close.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Right, but the experience that you get, I feel like\u2026 I\u2019m about to do it again, I can feel it coming, the Jui-jitsu reference. If you go roll with someone who\u2019s better than you and you know you\u2019re not going to win, but you learn something and it\u2019s very similar. Like sometimes I will do the same thing as you, I will push, I will poke, I will negotiate harder. I\u2019ll try to find where you see some softness in the other side, not because it mattered on that deal, but because that experience will help me on the $10 million deal where that is going to help, right?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Absolutely.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Can you share a little bit, because you seem like a similar mindset. Can you share some of the lessons you\u2019ve learned when it comes to how to get a little bit more?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
For sure. Can I talk about another deal I did?<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Yeah, let\u2019s hear about it.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I mean I\u2019ve gotten roofs, I\u2019ve gotten HVACs, I\u2019ve gotten all sorts of stuff from people, man, it\u2019s unbelievable. So I want to say the third house that I did, they were real snobby to be honest with you, they were just like, \u201cAh, this is our house, blah blah,\u201d and the market, by the way is starting to go up at this point, we\u2019re talking like March, April, it\u2019s starting to tick up a little bit.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And it\u2019s like, I put the contract in for $100,000 and they\u2019re sitting back, a week goes by, we\u2019re in this deal, they want to get out of the deal because they\u2019re like, \u201cHey, we can put this thing on the market for $120,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
They felt bad about it, number one. And I was like, \u201cListen, I got the deal. I got you locked up in the deal,\u201d and it turns out from the inspection that there were some issues with the roof. It was old, it had some issues with the shingles and stuff like that. I can\u2019t remember exactly what went wrong with it but the inspector was like, \u201cHey, listen, we need to have this roof replaced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I just straight up said to them, I said, \u201cListen, I\u2019ve met you on your terms. I told you I was going to close in 30 days. I\u2019ve offered you full price for this house, I want the roof replaced.\u201d And we went back and forth and they didn\u2019t want to do it and I was like, \u201cListen, either I\u2019m going to do it or somebody else is going to have to replace this roof. So what is it going to be? Because I\u2019m going to close and the next person that you give\u2026\u201d By the way, the house has to go back on the market. So someone\u2019s going to be asking, \u2018Hey, what happened? What\u2019s wrong with this house? Is there something wrong that the seller backed out?’\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I mean it started to get to stigmatize the house, \u201cLet\u2019s just go ahead and do this deal anyway.\u201d And they were finally just like \u201cOkay, fine. You get the roof,\u201d and they weren\u2019t very happy about it, but it felt great.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
There\u2019s another one that I did that I got $10,000 out of. I don\u2019t know if I was supposed to mention all this, but I\u2019ll mention it anyway. So there was like a leak underneath the AC unit and it was just like a slow leak in the condenser line. And that was my assumption the whole time, I had an AC guy going there, he verified all the wood underneath the AC had been rotted.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And it was the foundation, it has like a little crawlspace underneath, like the wood underneath it started to rot. Anyway, this is probably I\u2019d say June, July. So the market\u2019s changed from March to June, July\u2026 This is a different house. And the selling agent wanted to sell this house so bad and my buyer agent was like, \u201cHey, listen, let\u2019s just go ahead and just buy this house.\u201d I was like, \u201cNo, no, no, no, no, no. There\u2019s something wrong on with this. Let\u2019s go and get this fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
We were about to close, and the lender said, \u201cHey, listen, you got to get this fixed. You\u2019re going to have to get this fixed or we\u2019re not going to lend you the money.\u201d So the seller\u2019s agent went and got the first person he could find on the internet, which by the way happened to be the most expensive company. They came in and they were like, \u201cOkay, we\u2019re going to do this deal, but it\u2019s going to be $10,000 to fix this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I guess the seller was like, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s do it, whatever.\u201d So we wound up closing, turns out I got a different guy because the one that he quoted, was busy. It turned out to be only 1,200 bucks, $1,200 to get fixed. And so the other $10,000 went into other areas of the house, fixing it up. Unbelievable man, unbelievable.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So let\u2019s break into some details there, with the house that you had the roof replaced, you said the seller replaced that roof themselves, right?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yes.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Did you work anything in that they were required to have it done by a licensed company and you could check the work, or how did you work that out?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Absolutely. So whenever I put in any contract, I\u2019m always saying, \u201cHey, the work must be performed by a licensed contractor,\u201d this could be electrical, this could be plumber, this could be a roof. I mean, I don\u2019t want their cousin coming up and putting a roof on the house. I also want a warranty, I asked for a warranty on the roof as well. So, warranty of the work, warranty of the shingles, all that good stuff.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So absolutely, every time I ask for a licensed contractor, and if they don\u2019t do it, then we\u2019ll just get it ripped out, rip out that work and we\u2019ll do it again. Put somebody who\u2019s licensed, I\u2019m not afraid to go there if I have to.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Okay. And then sort of recap what you said, you went a little quickly on the second deal where it sounded like you negotiated a lot of repairs off of one sum of money.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah. So there was a AC unit in the middle of the hallway and underneath, the condensation line apparently had gotten clogged up. So water had started dripping and over the years it just started to drip down, started to rot the wood underneath the subflooring, and then the foundational beams inside the crawlspace.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And so we\u2019re at the very last day and my lender was like, \u201cHey, listen, we\u2019re not going to close on this house because of these repairs, you\u2019re going to have to get this repaired or get a seller credit.\u201d So the guy, that\u2019s the seller\u2019s agent, my buyer\u2019s agent didn\u2019t do it. She put it on the seller\u2019s agent to do it, \u201cHey, go get a repair. You need to get a contractor to estimate for this, so we can run this through escrow.\u201d So he went and just googled somebody and he just picked the first one available, because that was just who it was, turns out to be the most expensive.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
They came in and said, \u201cWe\u2019ll do this job for $10,000,\u201d And they were like, \u201cOkay, all right.\u201d Like I said, I guess the buyer was making enough on the sale to cover that, they ran $10,000 in escrow. I tried to call the same guy back, he was busy, wasn\u2019t going to be there for a while. I\u2019d say he was probably six weeks out from getting to it. So I just called somebody else, they were 1,200 bucks. So I ran gutters around the house, I got a whole bunch of electrical work done in the house with the rest of the money.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Okay, so you negotiated a chunk of money for repairs and then in this case you chose how to allocate as opposed to telling the seller, \u201cHey, you go fix the problem,\u201d is that right?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yes, correct. They didn\u2019t want to have anything do it, they were just ready to be done with it.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So I\u2019m curious, when you make that decision, do I ask for the repairs or do I ask for the request for a credit, are you doing that based on just whatever the seller says? Are you saying like, \u201cHey, I want you to fix it,\u201d and if they say no, then you say, \u201cFine, give me the money, I\u2019ll fix it.\u201d Or are you kind of strategically looking at this from a financial perspective and saying, \u201cI bet I could get this much money from them and use it more wisely than if I asked them to go make the repairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So that\u2019s a great question. So part of it is I live 1,500 miles away. And I will dive in on what I do on most deals, on a lot of deals, what I do is I actually will offer them what they want because I can tell the market was going up. I was like, I\u2019m going to buy this house. It\u2019s going to be worth $5,000, $10,000 more just in 45 days.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So like for instance, some of the deals I\u2019ve asked them for full price, only, only, and this is the only reason I did this. It\u2019s got a new HVAC, it\u2019s got a new water heater, it\u2019s got a new roof. Like I came across a deal, I offered $5,000 more because it had all that stuff. New flooring, new kitchen appliances. I was like, hey, listen, I\u2019m going to get outbid on this. I know for a fact, I\u2019m going to get outbid, I\u2019m going to offer $5,000 more.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Now when it comes to repairs, I actually offered them full price but I said, \u201cHere\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do. I\u2019m going to meet your price, but you have to meet my terms,\u201d because I\u2019m not there. I can\u2019t walk through the house, I can\u2019t touch it, I can\u2019t smell it. I\u2019ve got to trust my real estate agent and I\u2019ve got to trust my inspector.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I send my inspector through there, I\u2019ve got a great inspector and so he just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. I\u2019ll come back with a list of 20 items and I\u2019m looking for 50% of them to get done. The big ones to get done, they\u2019re going to cost me. We\u2019re talking like GFI outlets, I don\u2019t want to have to hire a contractor to come in, an electrical guy to come in, like GFIs or new electrical boxes outside.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I will ask the seller to repair this. Most of the time they push it back on me and say, \u201cListen, we\u2019ll give you a seller credit, but you got to do the repairs,\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cI don\u2019t want to do the repairs because I live out of state.\u201d So I want them to do the repairs within 30 days. So basically I can have it make ready. I\u2019ve had the sellers get it make ready, and so I can push a tenant through there.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
The only reason why I changed on that last one, because we had gotten down to like the day right before closing and that\u2019s why whenever they had that water damage, the guy, he just pulled the first guy he could find, then it was the fastest way to get the problem solved.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Have you run into the situation yet where you negotiate a higher credit from the sellers than what you can actually allocate towards your closing costs?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I have not, have you?<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Yeah, that one does come up, for our clients this happens pretty frequently. So a lot of people that are listening might not realize, you can\u2019t get a seller credit of just infinite money because otherwise fraud could happen. You could say, \u201cI\u2019ll buy your house for a hundred grand and I want a credit from you of a hundred grand.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And then the seller gets a hundred grand from the bank and you get a hundred grand from the seller, and then you just let the house go to foreclosure and the bank eats it. So lenders will limit how much closing costs you\u2019re actually able\u2026 You can only ask for the amount of your closing costs from the seller.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So one of the techniques that we\u2019ll use on the David Greene team is, in general, most of our clients know the money in the bank is better than the price on the house.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So if you\u2019re going to buy that place for a hundred grand, you\u2019re better off to buy it for $110,000 and get it $10,000 back as a credit because you can take that 10 grand and fix the house up to make it worth more. Maybe you can make it worth $30,000 with that 10 grand or you can keep that money in reserves in case something goes wrong.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
You can use it to buy your next property. In today\u2019s market with appreciating asset values and low interest rates, money in the bank is worth a lot more than the actual price on the house. That part makes sense so far?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah, actually it does.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So what we\u2019ll do is we\u2019ll negotiate as higher of a credit as we can get and then if that\u2019s more than their closing costs, we\u2019ll use that money to buy the rate down with our in-house lending team that we have. So if your interest rate was going to be, say 3.5, we can now take part of your seller credit, apply it towards your closing costs, buy your rate down to 2.8. And that actually is going to save you money over the life of the loan even though you paid more to get the rate buy back.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And I\u2019m always looking for little ways like that to make the deal more efficient for our clients. And so that\u2019s what I love about what you\u2019re saying is it sounds like you\u2019re looking at it from the same perspective.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah, I didn\u2019t know all that, but yes. Yeah, absolutely.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Well, I\u2019m encouraging people to think that way and especially here\u2019s why, when you\u2019re in the price point that you\u2019re playing in, Jason, these repairs can make or break your deal. There is a small margin of error for maintenance vacancies, right? How much is your average rent that you probably get a month?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I\u2019d say $950 to $1,000, we\u2019ll say $1,000 for easy numbers.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So, that\u2019s pretty solid. But I mean it\u2019s not two grand or three grand, right? So a couple hundred bucks can make a huge, huge difference in your ROI.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I was going to say absolutely, man, like the main issue with some of the houses is I bought them with 1956 to 1954 era, and they\u2019ve got that galvanized piping. And then I made 200 bucks here, 250 bucks there and it\u2019ll eat it up.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
One sewer line running under the house that needs to be repaired can screw you over. Sometimes just a tree removal that you didn\u2019t see coming can crush you at that price point.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Now I don\u2019t buy houses in that price point anymore, right?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Me neither.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
This is going to sound weird, I don\u2019t have to look at the details quite as closely when I\u2019m buying a $2 million asset because the cash flow it produces will cover over a lot of what I miss. But this is why the market you\u2019re in is so good to get started in, is because it forces you to be really, really tight with what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
You build very good habits when you\u2019re investing in those markets. Having to look at everything as closely as you are, and the price point is low enough that you don\u2019t need as much money saved up to get entered into it. That\u2019s the strength of the market you\u2019re in, obviously the weakness is that much attention to detail can become very burdensome as you start to go into scale.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So at what point did you realize that and what did you transition into when you wanted to move out from these types of deals we\u2019re talking about right now?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So here\u2019s the deal. I went so fast that I haven\u2019t bought any other homes in that price range, but I\u2019m about to put an offer in next week on one that\u2019s built in 2005. It\u2019s a little bit more, but I\u2019m not dealing with galvanized piping, I\u2019m not dealing with plumbing issues in the house. I\u2019m not going to deal with any of that stuff, it\u2019s got all updated things.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
That\u2019s been my biggest issue in purchasing homes like that, and don\u2019t get me wrong they haven\u2019t been deal breakers. It\u2019s just, \u201cHey, we had a plumbing issue,\u201d Here\u2019s 150 bucks. \u201cHey, we had to do this with the stink or shower head,\u201d or something like that.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I\u2019m actually bumping up and I have a guy, who\u2019s a friend of mine and he was like, \u201cHey, listen, you\u2019ve done great to purchase the 10 that you\u2019ve got. Now, what I would do is\u2026\u201d He\u2019s actually made the suggestion. He said, \u201cBump up $40,000 more, $50,000, $60,000 more on a house and bump up an extra 40 years too.\u201d And the 40 years is you\u2019re going to have like PVC piping or have updated electric codes. Everything\u2019s going to be a lot more modern and it\u2019s going to flow better with less repairs.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And he\u2019s like, \u201cListen, what do you want? Do you want to keep going down the road? This is totally fine if you want to, but you can expect some of those repairs or you can bump up $40,000 and it\u2019ll be less of a headache. And you could still go march through the jungles of Tibet and get your paycheck without repairs coming off of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That\u2019s really good advice. I recently did a TED talk, it\u2019s going to be released pretty soon here and in the talk, it was basically about how to be successful at anything, how to learn, how to do anything. There\u2019s a pattern that anytime you\u2019re building a skill you always see.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And one of the rules is that you\u2019re trying to build momentum and so you\u2019re lining up these dominoes to accomplish what you want, and people make the mistake of lining up the same size domino over and over and over. And you end up with a hundred single-family houses and yes, you are successful, but you\u2019re sure not taking a hike into Machu Picchu with something like that.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
You\u2019re dealing with death by a thousand paper cuts when you have a hundred single-family rentals and there\u2019s diminishing returns. What you want to do is stack your dominoes higher and higher and higher every time. And that\u2019s what I love about your strategy is that you\u2019re evolving into something that\u2019s a little bit bigger.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
With the stuff you\u2019ve done, you seem like you pay a lot of attention to detail. Is there a spreadsheet that you\u2019re using to kind of track everything that has to be done in every deal or is this just all still in your head?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So no, I use a spreadsheet. My friend actually made it up, I\u2019m sitting here looking at it like everybody else can see it too, but it\u2019s a very, very simple spreadsheet. I\u2019ll be honest with you, before I got into real estate spreadsheets made my eyes glaze over, but the spreadsheet, it literally counts in vacancy, counts in long-term maintenance repairs, it gives me a breakdown.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And I didn\u2019t invent this thing, by the way, just throwing that out there. It breaks down like this is your maximum cash flow if you have no repairs, and this is your\u2026 Forever until the infinity, until the end of time and everybody pays on time, all the time. That\u2019s never going to happen, right?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So then it goes up to long-term maintenance cost, it counts that in. So that\u2019s what I base everything off of is the long-term maintenance cost because I had heard or read somewhere that like 40% of all the money you make will go back into the house in repairs. Is that about what you\u2019re coming up with too?<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Sometimes more, when it\u2019s older houses like this, I think it blows people away once they own real estate. See the problem with spreadsheets is that they give us the false sense of security that life can be figured out that predictably, right?<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And what you find is if you buy a house built in 2000, 2010, just the amount of money you put back into it, pales in comparison to something built in 1940. But we rarely ever think when you\u2019re looking at a 1940s house, I\u2019m buying a money pit, right? The spreadsheet doesn\u2019t tell you the difference, and so that\u2019s one of the things that I\u2019m constantly telling investors, you can\u2019t be you one-trick pony. You cannot buy only for cash flow, just like you can\u2019t buy only for appreciation. A lot of people lost money speculating in 2000 through 2006, that prices would keep going up and we all learned don\u2019t bet on that.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
You need cash flow to balance this out but I think the new mistake everyone\u2019s making, is the pendulum swung too far and they\u2019re only looking at cash low on a spreadsheet. And they don\u2019t realize that even if that property\u2019s making you $300 a month, if the air conditioner breaks after the third year, all of your cash flow is gone.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
You don\u2019t actually have cash flow, you have the appearance of cash flow. And so if your property appreciated 50 grand, when that happens, you\u2019re okay. You can refinance it and put on a new roof and a new air conditioner, fix it all and your rent will have gone up. So it\u2019s still going to cash flow.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I\u2019m saying this because I think the word needs to get out there more that if you\u2019re going to play the cash-flow game, you got to do it like you\u2019re doing it, Jason. Incredibly focused on every little detail and it almost makes real estate investing not fun, if you have to be that way. And that\u2019s why I like it to be a little more balanced, because then you can kind of live the life you want and let that property pay for it.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah. So like for instance, we\u2019re doing 20 single-family homes and then our next home, our 21st home will be in Airbnb where we want to vacation, let\u2019s say Miami. Or I live in Colorado, so I mean I\u2019m in the mountains already. So obviously it\u2019s going to be a coastal town somewhere and definitely not California, just throwing that out there.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Man, low blow. What\u2019s wrong with California, Jason?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Man, first rule of financial freedom is leave California.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That\u2019s funny. Yeah, everything becomes a lot cheaper when you get out of here. I was just in Texas and I was looking at gas prices, were like $2 and something and I was hearing people complain about it. And I was secretly thinking ours are like $4.50 and I\u2019m like, \u201cOh it dropped down to $4.30, gas is cheap.\u201d You go to a restaurant and you can eat for like eight or $9, you can\u2019t even get an appetizer for eight or $9 in California. Everything\u2019s a lot more expensive.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
You can\u2019t ever get to the door, man. I just took my daughter to a concert out in LA, a BTS concert. I don\u2019t know if you who they are, it\u2019s like a mega Korean pop band. I took her out there, and man, gas was like four\u2026 I think it was like $5.25 or something like that, $4.89 or $4.99. I can\u2019t remember but it was somewhere in there. Unbelievable, man. Unbelievable, what you guys are paying out there.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Yeah, I also talk about that in Long-Distance Investing, is that every market, any market, whether we\u2019re talking at a macro scale like the economy or you\u2019re talking about a micro scale, like a city, they have pluses and they have minuses.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So part of where my wealth came from was I worked in an area that is incredibly expensive to live in, the Bay Area in California, but the wages were also really high. So if you\u2019re able to spend, like I did, a lot of my time working, making good wages and I didn\u2019t go spend it on anything that was really expensive because I was working. I was able to save more money than everyone else and then go invest it into some of these other markets that made more sense and then I learned how to buy Bay Area properties that would still cash flow. And I had perfect the mix where I could buy a Bay Area property with cash flow, I could also invest into emerging markets.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So I\u2019m always encouraging people, it\u2019s easy to see the negative, like California\u2019s very expensive but at the same time, I sell houses here that are a million dollars routinely, which is very good for business. The commissions are high enough that I can afford to pay salaries to people to kind of help run the team. So no matter where you are, there is a strategy that will work.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And I remember, I used to hear Brandon Turner say that all the time and I would roll my eyes, like not where I am, but now I look back and I realize he was kind of right about that.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So as far as the next stage of where you want to go, you said you want 20 properties, then you want to get an Airbnb. What is it about that number 20?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Number one, I think a lot of people got crushed during pandemic. I mean, I don\u2019t think anybody saw what came coming in 2018 like, \u201cHey in two years now it\u2019s going to be a pandemic, so you guys watch out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I think for me, number one, I like to have a foundation. I\u2019ve got two kids, man, I need a solid foundation. So I figured out mathematically that if I just build a solid foundation of 20 single-family homes bringing me in roughly $10,000, $12,000, $13,000 a month, maybe nine, whatever, wherever I land, that\u2019s going to be enough to offset the Airbnb if something were to happen.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I was standing at a spot, it was a multi-family unit and it was all Airbnbs but when the pandemic came along, he had to actually rent one of those out full-time, because he had an investor out of California. And he had rent one of those out full-time because he was getting crushed on all three other ones being vacant.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I wanted, number one, I don\u2019t know what the future\u2019s going to hold. I know everybody\u2019s like Airbnb, Airbnb, Airbnb but here\u2019s the other thing, man. If I buy an Airbnb, buy a house with the intention of doing Airbnb, then all of a sudden this city over here, they change their laws. My business model\u2019s rendered obsolete overnight, poof it\u2019s gone, evaporated. And I can\u2019t rent it out monthly for cashflow for long-term tenants, so I\u2019ve got to have something to cover that shortfall. So I think it\u2019s smart to have\u2026 By the way, it gives me targets. I mean, I got 11 properties right now, I\u2019ve got to buy nine more before I get to the Airbnb.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Obviously I could buy the Airbnb right now, do the other nine afterwards. So I mean, I\u2019ve got to have goals. I\u2019ve got to have targets. I have to have something to shoot for. And the great thing about the Airbnb is my wife, she\u2019s fantastic at like marketing material.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So we were going to do our Airbnb house, she had a theme, had it written up and everything, deal fell through, but she is not excited at all about real estate. She really doesn\u2019t like it at all, to be honest with you but I said, \u201cHey, why don\u2019t we do an Airbnb?\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cI like that.\u201d It\u2019s a way for us to get closer together too, man. That\u2019s a fantastic thing, you can\u2019t discount that marriage. You got to keep that growing too.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I haven\u2019t had to deal with that problem yet because I\u2019m not married. So, my heart goes out to the couples that are like, \u201cI love real estate and my husband says, no, he thinks it\u2019s a scam. I can\u2019t get him into it.\u201d It\u2019s just a whole hurdle I\u2019m lucky I haven\u2019t had to challenge.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
But when you were talking, I did start thinking about my mom. My mom has been bugging me for years to help her invest in real estate. And I know what that will turn into is, I will say, \u201cHey, you should look here,\u201d and then she\u2019ll start saying, \u201cWell, what about this deal? What about this deal? What about this deal?\u201d Eventually I will have to pick the house and negotiate it then I will have to run rehab, then she\u2019s going to say, \u201cWell, the property manager said, what do I\u2026\u201d I\u2019m going to just basically take on all the work of doing a deal that isn\u2019t mine.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
But I do think my mom would be very good at running a short-term rental, she loves that attention to detail. She loves being hospitable. She has a very good eye for what people like and what people don\u2019t like. And as you were talking about your wife, I started to think, oh, that\u2019s how I\u2019m going to get this monkey off my back, is I\u2019ll buy an Airbnb with my mom and I will manage the financial side of it and I will let her pay attention to the throw pillows that we\u2019re going to use and what pictures we\u2019re going to put on there, because she\u2019s going to love that.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Fantastic. Yeah man. I mean, you don\u2019t want another job, we all don\u2019t need another job. You know what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Amen to that, that is exactly right. All right, so what are some of the challenges that you faced building your portfolio to this point, especially having it happen over eight months that you didn\u2019t foresee but that you\u2019ve now corrected and you\u2019re not going to make mistakes going forward?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
First things first, I was like, \u201cHey, listen,\u201d like I said earlier in the very beginning of this podcast, \u201cI\u2019m going to do single-family rentals.\u201d One of the biggest challenges is I\u2019ve had so many shiny objects coming at me like so many people, \u201cHey, you should do storage units. You should do multi-family. You should do that. Just drop all grandiose ideas of single-family homes and do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
That\u2019s the first challenge is staying focused. It\u2019s like, if I\u2019m going to do something, I\u2019m going to do it but a lot of people that I meet in real estate are not a master at anything. They kind of understand this business model of multi-family, maybe have an Airbnb over here, one or two single-family homes. And they just are kind of like floundering, I\u2019m over here, like crushing it because I\u2019m like the master of my universe of single-family homes. I mean that\u2019s my thing, man.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
That\u2019s the first challenge, number one was just staying focused and being able to say no to everybody, that\u2019s the first thing. The second thing was, I had to come up with hard-and-fast rules. I actually wrote them down over here. I was like, okay, what do I want in real estate? I want to control as many variables as I can, number one. I don\u2019t want HOAs like condos and things like that. They can just drop, \u201cHey listen, now everybody\u2019s got to pay 4,000 extra more dollars a year or,\u201d whatever. So I was like, okay, no HOAs, no flood zones because it thinks flood, the house is going to flood but number two, they\u2019re going to keep raising that flood zone insurance. They\u2019re going to keep on raising it.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Number three, no pools. I don\u2019t want to have that constant maintenance cost of a pool and by God, if a child died in that pool, I could never forgive myself. I\u2019ve got two kids, I\u2019ve been married 20 years next year so I couldn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Number four, actually, no basements, with basements, it\u2019s not a matter of if they leak but a matter of when, and last thing is no large decks. And I\u2019d say the sixth thing, to be honest with you is all brick. I like all-brick homes.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I was like, okay, I need to find these control costs something that when I say it\u2019s going to be like this, it\u2019s going to be relatively like this. And the other parameters, 3:2s and 4:2s. I\u2019ve had a lot of people, \u201cHey man, I\u2019ve got a 2:2 over here, I\u2019ve got a 2:1 over here. I\u2019ve got a 3:1 over here. You need to get it, the market\u2019s going up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And this is a thing about a lot of investors, is a lot of people get emotional when it comes to investing. Number one, they think that nothing in that zip code\u2019s ever going to come up again. This is the last house I\u2019m going to be able to get, it\u2019s the only one, I\u2019ve got to buy it. And they get sucked into a deal.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
You\u2019re laughing, obviously you know what I\u2019m talking\u2026 I\u2019m a newbie, dude. I\u2019m a newbie, but I\u2019d say those are probably the two biggest things. Timing obviously, and I run another company. It\u2019s a seven figure income stream every single year. So I run that with my wife, and it\u2019s a sales team of people all over the globe.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Those are the two biggest things I could tell you that really, really became a challenge. The last thing I would say, is know your numbers. A lot of what\u2019s happened in the marketplace, a lot of prices have been driven up just strictly through bidding wars.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And like I said, when you\u2019re investing in real estate, it should be the complete, exact opposite experience of you buying your personal home. Your personal home is your personal home. Like, oh my God, I want to live here. I want to know these neighbors. Oh my God, I love this countertop. I love these colors. Oh my God, the view\u2019s amazing\u2026 When it becomes a rental, none of that matters. None of it matters, the only thing that matters is the numbers.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I mean, yes, some of that matters. Neighborhood matters, yes, if there\u2019s a car up on blocks next door, a meth lab down the street, all that matters. Right, but I\u2019m just saying it should be almost a complete, actual opposite experience. And I think what we went through this year was just a lot of newbies getting into the market, emotional like teenagers, they just don\u2019t have any numbers.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
When they get sucked into a bidding war, they\u2019re like, \u201cOh my God, okay, let\u2019s keep going. Let\u2019s keep going higher, higher, higher,\u201d and their cash flow, it\u2019s just dropping down. You know how it all goes, man, you got to be able to relate.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
What you\u2019re saying is absolutely right, there\u2019s a couple points I want to highlight from it. As far as the last point you said, I think a lot of investors get very frustrated that other people are willing to pay more than they would. And I often hear them saying things like, \u201cThe seller needs to understand he\u2019s being unrealistic,\u201d or, \u201cThey need to realize their house isn\u2019t worth what they say it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
But some other buyer is happy to pay that much money because they\u2019re not going to rent it out, they want to live in it and it\u2019s worth it to make your quality of life higher. Get in that school district you want, to have the house with the pool that you\u2019re going to raise your kids in, and to you paying another 40 grand to have that is well worth it. So in a sense that house is worth whatever someone can get for it. It\u2019s not worth it to us.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And that\u2019s the key with not getting emotional, is if you know what you want, you can\u2019t let yourself get attached to it. You have to know that doesn\u2019t work for me and if you get frustrated that it didn\u2019t work out, you were attached. You got to be able to say, \u201cHey, I\u2019m happy some family wanted to pay 40 grand more for that house because they\u2019re going to use it for a different purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And then maybe, how can I start looking for houses that a family might not want, that would be the way that I would approach that. I think that a lot of investors, they\u2019re just not used to having to do something over and over and over before they actually find success and so they do get caught up.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Another thing you mentioned that I love, that I want to talk about on this podcast because I\u2019ve never heard another podcast say it in the real estate space ever anywhere. When I was a new investor, I thought like every amateur thinks, and it\u2019s just how low under market value can I get this house? And there\u2019s nothing wrong with that, it\u2019s actually a very good thing to look for.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
But it was the only thing that I looked for. I just said like, \u201cWhere\u2019s the deal?\u201d And I found what I thought was a good deal. And then I said, \u201cHow do I try to justify buying this thing and making it work, even though I don\u2019t have experience or resources or knowledge or any of the things that I would need to make it profitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So I\u2019d end up with the house that I got under market value and a list of headaches that I then had to learn how to go solve and it took a ton of time. What you said was, \u201cI don\u2019t want this, I don\u2019t want this, I don\u2019t want this, I don\u2019t want this and whatever\u2019s left is worth looking at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And while it may sound odd to hear me say this, that is now how I approach real estate. So I like to find Bay Area properties that I can turn into more than one unit to rent out. Like if I can buy a house for $1.5 million, but I can turn it into three units or something like that and I can make it cash flow. Doesn\u2019t need to cash flow a ton in year one, by year five, that thing\u2019s going to be crushing it, but it brings a host of problems.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Where am I going to find a property that has enough parking spaces for all the people that are going to stay in those units? You don\u2019t even think about that when you\u2019re getting a regular house, right? Is this in a neighborhood that that\u2019s going to piss off all the neighbors and they\u2019re going to be calling it in because they don\u2019t like all these renters in their neighborhood? Is the floor plan of the house itself conducive to how I would like to use it? If it\u2019s like a track home, there\u2019s no way to get anyone to the upstairs unless they walk through someone else\u2019s bedroom, that\u2019s not going to work.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So I\u2019ve switched to looking at it like you, does it have all the pieces that I need? And if it does, I don\u2019t necessarily have to get it at 100 grand less than what I think it will appraise for. I need to get that house, because that\u2019s a rare gem that\u2019s going to make me a lot more money. And I just want to encourage people when you can say no to what\u2019s out there, the yeses become so much more clear as to moving forward and I want to give you a chance to kind of elaborate on that thought.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I was just thinking about my own house right here. I\u2019m like, man, I should have David come and buy my house. I live at a three-level house. I have literally a million dollar view of the mountains, but what\u2019s crazy about it is just there\u2019s an access door back here. You could put a kitchen up here. There\u2019s one down here. There\u2019s a bedroom down here and down below, they\u2019ve got a little kitchenette and I\u2019m like, David would be the perfect buyer for my house. My house is going in the market actually. Anyway, so where were we? Sorry about that.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
No, it\u2019s just that idea that I look at real estate from a different angle than other people do, where every other investor is going out there saying, \u201cHow do I find something less than market value?\u201d I\u2019m happy to let them all fight over those same deals and then buy a house that you got for maybe 50 grand less than it\u2019s worth, but it doesn\u2019t accomplish the purposes you had of having cash-flowing real estate instead I look for nos.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I realize the reason that you\u2019re saying, \u201cI only buy brick homes,\u201d is because you see that you\u2019re cutting down on maintenance costs, right? So would you just mind sharing a couple of those reasons of what you look for in a house and how that\u2019s going to save you money?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I think, number one, I really pissed off my real estate agent. First of all, whenever I reached out to her and told her what I wanted to do. We started working together and she was like, \u201cHey listen, look this really isn\u2019t going to work.\u201d And I was like, \u201cListen, you telling me this isn\u2019t going to work, isn\u2019t going to work.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cThis is what I want and this is how it\u2019s going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
It was a little rough in the beginning, not really every real estate agent\u2019s going to be about it. So we kind of had a little rough thing, but what it does, it narrows the field of vision. Like everybody\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, house over here, house over here, house over here, house over here,\u201d and it brings it in where I can actually focus and I can run the numbers on those houses.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Another thing I forgot to mention, I don\u2019t buy houses with large flower beds and gardens and all that stuff out front, anything that has a lot of outdoor maintenance, like gazebos and stuff, I don\u2019t buy any of that stuff, no matter what the price is.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I\u2019m looking for concrete as much as possible, tenants cannot mess that up.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Absolutely man, absolutely. I want something that doesn\u2019t require a lot of attention. I don\u2019t want something that requires a lot of maintenance, so that\u2019s the whole behind the hard-and-fast rules.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That\u2019s such a good\u2026 I mean, if you just think about after owning that property for 30, 40 years that you may get it for 30 to 50 grand less, but it has all these issues. You\u2019re going to spend more than that fixing it up and repairing stuff that people messed up over that long period of time.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Absolutely.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So what\u2019s something that you think every new investor who\u2019s thinking, I\u2019d love to do what Jason did, but I don\u2019t know how to even get my first house, let alone my first 10. What did you do that you feel like worked out that many other investors don\u2019t realize is possible?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Well number one, you have to have a system. You have to have a system. Like I mentioned before, me and my wife, actually we\u2019re in network marketing and we run a company over here. And if you\u2019re going to be successful at network marketing, you have to have a system like you have to have a system to move people around and close leads and things like that.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
It\u2019s the exact same thing in real estate. If you\u2019re going to do this from either 15 miles away or 1,500 miles away, you have to have a system. The first system is, how are you going to get the money? That\u2019s the first system, how do you get the money and repeatably get the money? Not just something like, maybe I can save $2,000 this month, or I could save $4,000 next month or $4,000 next year, whatever it may be. It needs to be consistently the same thing.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
A system requires you to work the system, that\u2019s how everybody becomes successful in business. Every business is a system like McDonald\u2019s. David, let me ask you a question, can you make a better burger than McDonald\u2019s?<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I\u2019m sure I could.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Absolutely man, we could blindfold you and just dump some ingredients in front of you and you just kind of do your thing, man, and whatever comes out, comes out. The question is how come you don\u2019t have a billion dollars yet? Probably because you haven\u2019t built a system around how to make burgers, right?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Same thing with real estate. If you\u2019re going to jump into real estate and you\u2019re going to get your first house, number one, narrow your parameters down. Do you want to do single family? Do you want to do long term? Do you want to do students short term. Do you want to do multi-family? Do you want to do storage units? I want to do storage units. I\u2019m going to go into storage units probably in year five, that\u2019s where I\u2019m going to head to but I\u2019m going to build that foundation first.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
You have to have the system, so get the money right, narrow down the parameter and then build your team. That\u2019s the first thing.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
It\u2019s very similar to how athletes don\u2019t just walk in a gym and look at every machine or every exercise and just be like, \u201cI\u2019ll try that one. Now I\u2019ll try this one.\u201d If you\u2019re developing your body for a purpose, you\u2019re working out specific muscle groups in specific ways.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Business is just a different kind of sport and you play it with your mind, so I love what you\u2019re saying. Probably part of the reason you were successful is because you had already done it in the business that you had and you took those principles and applied it to real estate, right?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah, absolutely. Network marketing taught me that about business, like I\u2019ve learned so much about how to speak to people, how to close leads, how to get what I want. I mean, that\u2019s been helpful with my lender when my lender was like, \u201cHey listen, this isn\u2019t going to work,\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s have a little chat here,\u201d bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I\u2019ve had to get on the phone a lot of times, negotiate with people, negotiate with lenders and negotiate with attorneys. I mean if the attorney\u2019s like, \u201cHey listen, we can\u2019t close that day,\u201d and the lender will come back and say, \u201cWe can\u2019t close\u2026.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cGive five minutes, I\u2019ll be right back.\u201d So I get on the phone, I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat\u2019s your name? Let me talk to you for a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And I get on there and I make it happen and my lender\u2019s like, \u201cWhat are you like Tony Robbins or something? How\u2019d you make that happen?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cListen, you just got to know how to talk to people. Yo, that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I think that\u2019s an understated part of your success particularly, is I think there\u2019s a lot of people that their agent says, \u201cHere\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d and in their head they\u2019re like, \u201cNo, that\u2019s not what I want,\u201d but they don\u2019t know how to articulate that into words. And so it just turns into, \u201cFine, I\u2019ll let my agent do what they want to do,\u201d it doesn\u2019t work. Whereas you said, \u201cNo, no, no. I told my agent, this is how it\u2019s going to work and we kind of went back and forth, but ultimately we settled on the right solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Right. Let me just say this for everybody doing their first deal or their 10th deal or whatever, business has to be great for both parties. Nobody can walk away feeling like that they got taken advantage of, no party should negotiate so much that either the buyer got taken advantage, the seller got taken advantage of.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Everybody needs to be able to make this work because you never know that seller may know somebody, \u201cHey, by the way, John\u2019s selling a house down the street, since you did such good with me, John wants to work with you too. Since you close all the time, John wants to work with you too,\u201d you never know. And that to me, David, is how real business works.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I think this is some very good advice. I hope everybody got something out of that. Just understanding if you feel trapped, you don\u2019t know how to talk to people. You feel like you\u2019re being dragged in a direction, you don\u2019t want to go. That\u2019s an opportunity to improve a part of yourself. Your ability to articulate, your ability to come up with a win-win that can help you get over that hurdle rather than just saying, \u201cOh, I guess I\u2019m not good at real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
And you often find the people that are most successful at this were successful at other things before they did this and this was just another domino in that stack of what they were knocking down.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
So yep, that being said, I\u2019m going to move us on to the next portion of the show. It is going to be the Deal Deep Dive.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
All right, Jason, do you have a deal for us to dive deeply into?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So is this a deal that I currently did or one that I\u2019m working on right now?<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Could be either one.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I\u2019ve got a deal that I did, okay? And this deal here is $99,000. Okay, I closed at $99,000, it rents out for $950 right now.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Well, hang on a second. I\u2019ll ask you the questions, you can answer those, okay? So we\u2019ll start with what kind of property is this?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So number one, this is a single-family home, three bedroom, two bath, all brick.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Okay, perfect. The brick special, how did you find this?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Actually I flew in to close on my first deal because I live in Colorado, I was closing in Montgomery, flew in for that first deal. And I came in a day early, I said, \u201cMan, let me look at some properties,\u201d call up my agent and boom, we found this deal. I made an offer on it right then and there. Then I was like, God, let\u2019s roll.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Love it. Okay, how much did you pay? You said $99,000, so we got that. How did you negotiate that price?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Again, I didn\u2019t negotiate anything. I looked around the whole entire thing, they were leaving the washer and dryer, they were leaving a really nice refrigerator. I looked around, I was like the AC\u2019s been serviced, everything looks great. And I was just like, \u201cMan, this is a pretty good deal. This is a pretty good deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And I started running some numbers, talking to my property manager and she was like, \u201cWe can rent that out for $950 to 1,000 bucks, $900.\u201d So I was like, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s just do $950,\u201d and I was like, \u201cAll right. That\u2019s not bad, 13% return on my money. That\u2019s not going to be too bad. All right, let\u2019s do it. Let\u2019s roll.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
It was an old lady too, by the way. Listen, man, I will negotiate and I will go toe to toe with people like you but a little old lady who reminds me of my grandmother, man. Sorry, I just couldn\u2019t do it, man.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Well it sounds like she already had it priced right, if she\u2019s including everything and it was a good price. Sometimes you win by letting the other side win too.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah, it\u2019s worth about $120,000, $125,000 now. So I mean, did I get a good deal? I think so.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That\u2019s exactly how I look at it, versus the person that tried to save another five grand, didn\u2019t happen, they lost out on that 30 grand in equity. Did they get a good deal?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
No.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Right? Now their money\u2019s worth less because inflation\u2019s worn it and all the other houses cost more and they lost the cash flow of three years. Yeah, taking action is often better than trying to just beat the other party, I agree with you. All right, so how\u2019d you fund this deal?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So I literally just put 20% down. Our other business is pretty successful so I just literally put down. It wasn\u2019t even that much $20,000, I think it was 421,000, $22,000 out the door, $22,500, closing costs, something like that. It wasn\u2019t bad.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
All right, and then what did you end up doing with it?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Rented it out. Literally within, I\u2019d say a week and a half after I closed, boom, property manager came in, dropped the tenant, $950, we\u2019re rolling. Literally no problems by the way, with this house. None. Zero, I\u2019m talking zero.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That is awesome.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Fantastic, they pay on time. I mean again, did I get a bad deal? I don\u2019t know maybe I should\u2019ve negotiated at $5,000 but I got great tenants. I mean, no problems and they pay on time.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I just think in 30 years, you\u2019re not going to remember if you paid another three, four or five grand, the house is going to be worth $300,000, $400,000 at that time. And so many things that we worry about during the moment don\u2019t matter when you look at it over the bigger timescale.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
True, so true.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
All right. Last questions, what lessons did you learn from this deal?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
It\u2019s number one, trust in your gut. Trust in your gut, I would say that\u2019s a big part of real estate. It\u2019s like, you can do all the numbers, I looked at the spreadsheet, everything looked great, but I walked through it, I smelled it. This is one of the rare feelings, by the way that I was able to through before I closed on it. But I looked around, I just kind of looked under the sink, obviously there was no active leaks, no presence of any leaks.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
I looked at the AC, I\u2019m not an AC guy, I just kind of tinkered with it. I\u2019m over there tinkering, what else am I going to do? I\u2019m going to tinker throughout the whole house. And I\u2019m just like, man, my gut\u2019s telling me like, \u201cThis is a good deal. This is a good deal. This is a good deal.\u201d And so I just went with it, man, trust your gut when it comes to real estate, just trust your gut.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I like it. Well, you trust your gut, but know your numbers, right?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
They\u2019re both kind of operating at the same time. And when you get it right, the numbers determine what your gut tells you and that\u2019s when you can trust it.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Absolutely, man. And by the way, when I ask my property manager, \u201cHey, what\u2019s it going to rent for? Give me the low, give me the high.\u201d And I always shoot in the middle or I\u2019ll shoot towards the low end, to be honest with you a lot of times. Now moving forward, I was a newbie back then, I still kind of am compared to you, David, but I was like, man, if all goes to hell, I can still rent it out for 900 bucks and still do pretty well, it\u2019s not going to break the bank.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Well, it\u2019s funny that you said that you\u2019re a newbie. You\u2019re probably a newbie compared to everyone because you\u2019ve only been doing it for eight months, but you own more houses than the people that are not newbies. So there\u2019s some irony there between, how are we going to define what newbie is?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Dude, action. Action. Action. Action. It\u2019ll get you to your dreams faster than reading books and faster than anything else.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
All right, well let\u2019s get into the last portion of our show, Famous Four, where we ask every guest the same four questions to find out a little bit more about what makes them tick. So first question, what is your favorite real estate book?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Oh, I have to say by far, hands and away, I\u2019d say the Rental Property Investing, this one right here, the BiggerPockets one, it\u2019s by far\u2026 Dude, everything you need, by the way, to buy a single-family home and grow it to 10, right here. Right here, you ain\u2019t got to buy anything else. I\u2019m just saying, it starts right here.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Everything Brandon does is just good. He just does good work on everything he does, yeah. I think that\u2019s the top-selling real estate book in the world.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
It should be, I don\u2019t see why it wouldn\u2019t be. And I read the other one by the way, How To Invest In Real Estate by Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin. And this is by the way, let me just say it, it just confirmed everything that was in the other thing. It\u2019s almost like the exact same book, maybe expanded in a few areas, but yeah.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Awesome. Okay, what\u2019s your favorite business book?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Oh, yeah man. I mean, that\u2019s a good one. I would say obviously a lot of people say, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, man, I would say honestly, Be Obsessed Or Be Average by Grant Cardone, by far hands down. That, or Sell or Be Sold, by Grant Cardone, because here\u2019s the thing at the end of the day, you\u2019re selling yourself to people every single a day. And if you get in there and you can\u2019t sell yourself to the agent or you can\u2019t sell yourself to the seller like, \u201cHey, listen, I\u2019m your guy. I\u2019m going to close. I\u2019m going to make this happen. We\u2019re not going to have any problems.\u201d If you can\u2019t deliver that with confidence to your people, and to your lender and everybody else, man, it\u2019s going to be tough. It\u2019s going to be a tough go.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I got to say, Jason. I don\u2019t think a lot of our audience is shocked that you just mentioned Grant Cardone as someone whose business books you like, have you been told yet that you look like an NFT that was based off of Grant Cardone\u2019s likeness?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Well kind of, yeah, I\u2019ve been told that a little bit. Like dude, you\u2019re like a younger version of Grant Cardone.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
You can tell he\u2019s influenced you for sure, your speech pattern, the way that you project yourself. It\u2019s very professional, very high energy.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Thank you, I appreciate that. I haven\u2019t always been this confident, man, to be honest with you. And I feel like he was the first person that came along in my life that gave me permission. Like, hey listen, I\u2019m not different. I\u2019ve always felt different. I\u2019ve always felt like an outcast. I\u2019ve had a hard time making clicks with some of the people, friends with all these clicks and stuff like that. And I realized the whole time, there was nothing wrong with me, there\u2019s nothing wrong with me, man. It\u2019s just, I\u2019ve finally gave myself permission to be who I was born to be and I just stepped right up, man, and owned it.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
That\u2019s a great testimony to why we need to be ourselves because you never know who\u2019s out there and sees you and says, \u201cIt\u2019s okay that I\u2019m like this because that person\u2019s that way too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah, it\u2019s nothing wrong with big dreams, man. I\u2019ve been told I was crazy my whole life, man. Like, \u201cWho do you think you are? Do you know where you come\u2026\u201d I come from Wetumpka, Alabama, you ever even heard of that? Probably never ever.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Well, didn\u2019t Grant Cardone come from Louisiana?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Somewhere in Louisiana.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
I think it\u2019s a similar background that you two both probably came from.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah, I did a lot of drugs in my 20s, I\u2019m 44 now, man. I mean, I was like, oh my God, this guy\u2019s speaking my language, man. It\u2019s crazy, man. This is crazy.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
All right. So what are some of your hobbies today?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Oh my God, what are my hobbies? I would say, I like to hike, obviously I\u2019m here in Colorado. I like hanging out with my kids, I really like doing that a lot. Other than that, business, I workout. I do\u2026 What else, man? What else? I\u2019m just trying to think. That\u2019s about all I got time for, to be honest with you just building businesses. I\u2019m working on two more right now behind the scenes and playing with my kids, hanging out with my kids. My kid\u2019s 14, I\u2019ve got another daughter who\u2019s 18 and she\u2019s about to go off to college. So I\u2019m going to cry like a baby, I\u2019m just saying I\u2019m going to cry so hard when she goes off to college. So right now, I pretty much put all the stuff that I like to do on the back burner, I really, really focused a lot of time on her.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
All right, so in your opinion, what sets apart successful investors from those who give up, fail or never get started?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Oh man, this is an easy question, man. Super easy question, number one, get rich in the niche. Find out what you want to do, own it. That\u2019s about as simple as I can make it. Don\u2019t get distracted with all this other stuff.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
A lot of people, I\u2019ll be honest with you when I came to the BP conference back in New Orleans, man, I probably talked come to a couple of hundred people, made friends with a lot of them, great people. Everybody, no matter where they\u2019re at on their investing journey including myself, feels like they\u2019re behind the 8-ball.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
There\u2019s always somebody else to compare themselves to. So they feel like, well, what I\u2019m doing\u2019s not getting me there fast enough, so now I need to transition over here into this. I\u2019m over here doing single-family homes, I must go into storage units or I\u2019m here doing RV storage, I need to get into something else more magical.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And a lot of people just don\u2019t ever stop to realize like, \u201cHey listen, right where you\u2019re at right now, maybe you need to learn something where you\u2019re at right now. Maybe you need to grow. Maybe you need to transition to be who you want to be.\u201d Right? Because a lot of people out here they\u2019re like, \u201cOh man, I want to make a million dollars. I want to make a million dollars.\u201d Really? Really? You want to make a million dollars? I\u2019m like, okay, you want to deal with family coming after you for money, making you feel guilty, the IRS, all this stuff?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
And so you got like all these people that are sitting here and they\u2019re doing something, they do it X but they think that the grass is greener on the other side because somebody is a little bit further along, even if they hadn\u2019t started. By the way, I talked to two dudes who even started yet and one them say, \u201cWell I\u2019ve got $140,000 saved up.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve got $150,000 saved up, well I need to go over here and start saving up even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
It felt like this comparison game, and guys, if you\u2019re listening to my voice right now, get rich in a niche, do something, own it. Be the master of the universe, so that nobody can ever take advantage of you, that you can get the best deals and so that you could teach other people to do the exact same thing.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Yeah, to your point, I don\u2019t think any anyone at the time McDonald\u2019s started ever thought you could be worth billions of dollars selling hamburgers. That was as a concept, no one had ever considered before, they got rich in the niche of hamburgers and now we got the golden arches everywhere<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yes, exactly. Exactly. That would be my biggest thing. And the other thing, I think, David, would be action, man. Like action, granted now listen. Here\u2019s the thing guys, like I said in the very, very beginning, I bought all three of these books. I bought all three of these books, I put a timetable and said, \u201cListen, I\u2019m going to buy my first house in 90 days.\u201d I\u2019d never done my first deal, had no idea how to do it. I just knew that, okay, I googled these real estate books. I didn\u2019t even know who BiggerPockets was, by the way, let me just throw that out there. Sorry David, I didn\u2019t know the BRRRRRRRR method, however many Rs there are, but I\u2019m just saying I put a timetable on, okay, I\u2019m going to read these three books and these three books only.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
That\u2019s where I put the cap on, I said, \u201cNo more learning, time to do. No more learning, take action. No more learning, let\u2019s roll,\u201d that\u2019s just how it was. And so I said, 90 days, read these three books. If you can\u2019t do it on these three books in 90 days, you don\u2019t need to get into this Jason Rash, this is what I told myself.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
So that\u2019s the thing there, action is the barrier from where you\u2019re at to where you want to be always, always, if you\u2019re scared, do it. Like as the old saying goes, man, \u201cThat what you fear is what you must do.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Great stuff. Last question of the show. Jason, where can people find out more about you?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah. People can follow me, just google Jason Rash obviously, but Facebook, it\u2019s just Jason Rash, and Instagram, Jason Rash. It\u2019s not like pinksunset77\u2026 I was born in 1977, by the way, giving away my age. But it\u2019s not pinksunset77 or realestateinvestor77, it\u2019s just Jason Rash. You can find me there and that\u2019s where I\u2019m at. I don\u2019t have any websites or anything like that yet, but I will, I promise.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Well, thank you very much for your time, your insight and for sharing some of the knowledge that you developed over the years, this was awesome. I believe you ran into our producer, Eric, at BPCON, right?<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Yeah. What\u2019s funny is they did the whole march line thing. We all went to the bars and everything and I was just standing out there talking to some guys and I turned around and this guy named Eric sitting here talking to me and all of a sudden he hands me a card, \u201cHey man, do you want to be on the podcast?\u201d And here I am, I\u2019ve had a lot of people reach out to me, by the way, a lot of people that are bigger investors than I am, go, \u201cHow\u2019d you do that?\u201d I took action, I went to the conference. I went out and meet people. I\u2019m not scared. So many people, just take action.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
Eric\u2019s out there like Willy Wonka, handing out golden tickets at BPCON. That\u2019s why got to go to BPCON in 2022, you never know if you\u2019re going to bump into Willie Wonka and get your golden ticket.<\/p>\n

Jason Rash:
Absolutely. David, thanks for having me, man. I really appreciate this.<\/p>\n

David Greene:
My pleasure. Thank you very much. This is David Greene, you can follow me online @DavidGreene24 and be sure to follow BiggerPockets online as well on all social media. This is David Greene for Jason, 10X your life Rash, signing off.<\/p>\n

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